Post #3

Modernism branches off from into several movements such as cubism, fauvism, dada-ism, abstract expressionism, futurism, surrealism, and etc. According to Chadwick, “modernity is both linked to the desire for the new that fashion expresses so well, and culturally tied to the development of a new language” (253). Before the 19th century women were expected to live in the shadows and fulfill curtain duties assigned to them. But in the 20th century women won several rights including the right to vote. This allowed women to freely pursue an art career and push many boundaries in the art world. Sonia Delaunay and Robert Delaunay developed simultanism. The “patterns of abstract forms were arranged both to enhance the natural movement of the body and to establish a shimmering movement of color” (Chadwick 262). Despite Robert Delaunay receiving credit for her innovations Sonia Delaunay continued to expand and made “’simulations fabric, clothing, furniture, environments, and even cars” (Guerrilla Girls, 60).

Sonia Delaunay Sonia's Designs for Clothes and Citroen 1925

Sonia Delaunay, Prismes Isotiques 1914

Abstract art can be identified through the use of distortions,color blocking, and appear primitive to the audience.The development of abstraction, cubism, and post-impressionism evolved from a "desire to break with nature and infuse the resulting art with a profound spiritual content"(Chadwick 252).For instance, Vanessa Bell's The Tub acquires a level of simplification and abstraction that "resulted in tightly structured compositions which replaced anecdotal content with absolute aesthetic values" (Chadwick,258).

Vanessa Bell The Tub 1917

Dada-ism was created by Hannah Hoch and evolved from “pioneering experiments with photomontage helped sever the photographs from its existence as an autonomous artifact and emphasize its role in ideological production” (Chadwick, 269). The Dada movement mocked and expressed frustration towards cultural norms such as the idealization of the female body due to the male gaze in mass media productions and traditional painting.Hannah Hoch's marlene is a prime example of the use of the female body used as an object in advertisements.

The Female Body

Many artists began to paint with a stream of self-consciousness and look towards the female nude to reflect on a woman's experience and female identity. Suzanne Valadon's The Blue Room and Pan Yuliang Nude depict two women unaware of the male gaze and reluctant to care as they are in a relax posed.In contrast, Valadon's figure is freely smoking a cigarette which was a considered a bold and manly thing to do during that time period and fully clothed with a body that does not fit the idealistic slim and androgynous body of the 1920's. Other artists like Frida Kahlo chose to depict her inner turmoil and life struggles as her life progressed with the use of color and symbolic items. For example, Henry Ford Hospital is a painting that depicts one of the most traumatic experience in Frida Kahlo's life of a miscarriage. The snail represents how slow and painful the abortion was, the flower is a gift, the small child from above is the son she hoped to have, and in the center of every symbolic item lays Frida's swollen stomach.

Frida Kahlo, Henry Ford Hospital,1932

Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923

Pan Yuliang, Nude, 1952